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Full-Text Articles in Education
Examining The Historical Representation Of The Holocaust Within Trade Books, John H. Bickford Iii, Lieren Schuette, Cynthia W. Rich
Examining The Historical Representation Of The Holocaust Within Trade Books, John H. Bickford Iii, Lieren Schuette, Cynthia W. Rich
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
State and national education initiatives provide American students with opportunities to engage in close readings of complex texts from diverse perspectives as they actively construct complicated understandings as they explore complex texts. Opportunities for interdisciplinary units emerge as the role of non-fiction in English/language arts and informational texts in history/social studies increases dramatically. Trade books are a logical curricular link between these two curricula. The initiatives, however, do not prescribe specific curricular material so teachers rely on their own discretion when selecting available trade books. Scholarship indicates that historical misrepresentations emerge within trade books to varying degrees, yet only a …
Historical Thinking, Reading, And Writing About The World’S Newest Nation, South Sudan, John H. Bickford Iii, Molly Sigler Bickford
Historical Thinking, Reading, And Writing About The World’S Newest Nation, South Sudan, John H. Bickford Iii, Molly Sigler Bickford
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
State and national education initiatives have significantly increased expectations of students’ non-fiction reading and writing. These initiatives provide the space for potential interdisciplinary units in English/language arts and social studies/history centered on content area reading and writing. To do so, teachers must locate age-appropriate, historically representative curricular materials and implement discipline-specific writing prompts. To guide elementary teachers’ instruction, we select a novel, underused topic: the birth of the Republic of South Sudan. Age-appropriate children’s trade books are coupled with diverse informational texts—oral histories, current event news articles, and artwork—to extend the trade books’ narratives into the realm of current events. …
Examining Historical (Mis)Representations Of Christopher Columbus Within Children’S Literature, John H. Bickford
Examining Historical (Mis)Representations Of Christopher Columbus Within Children’S Literature, John H. Bickford
Faculty Research and Creative Activity
Effective teaching, while supplemented by best practice methods and assessments, is rooted in accurate, age-appropriate, and engaging content. As a foundation for history content, elementary educators rely strongly on textbooks and children’s literature, both fiction and non-fiction. While many researchers have examined the historical accuracy of textbook content, few have rigorously scrutinized the historical accuracy of children’s literature. Those projects that carried out such examination were more descriptive than comprehensive due to significantly smaller data pools. I investigate how children’s non-fiction and fiction books depict and historicize a meaningful and frequently taught history topic: Christopher Columbus’s accomplishments and misdeeds. Results …